Dreams
by Medalia
Summary: A short fic that takes place at some point either between Vivian Vande Velde's The Conjurer Princess and Just Another Dragon Slaying, or it's after JADS, I'm not sure.  I hope some people who read this become inspired to write more Lylene/Weiland fics...


_A short fic that takes place at some point either between The Conjurer Princess and Just Another Dragon Slaying, or it's after JADS, I'm not sure. I hope some people who read this become inspired to write more Lylene/Weiland fics, because there aren't nearly enough of them out there. Also be warned that I haven't edited this yet. The Conjurer Princess, "Just Another Dragon Slaying", and The Changling Prince are all written by Vivian Vande Velde. The characters belong to her. I am making no money from the publication of this story.  
_

**Dreams**

The screaming woke him up. Lylene was thrashing around in the blankets as though she were being attacked. She slipped off the edge of the bed and thudded to the floor and was silent.

His heart pounding, Weiland leaned over to make sure she was still alive. She looked up at him, tears streaming down her face. He noticed she calmed visibly when she saw him.

"What's going on?" He reached down to help her untangle herself from the covers.

"Bad dream." She sat up and kicked the blankets off her legs. "Very bad."

"I gathered as much. What was it about?"

She leaned her head against the side of the bed and took some deep breaths. He watched her with some concern. She didn't often have bad dreams and he could never recall her having one that sent her into such a state of panic.

"What are you doing in bed with me?" She looked up at him suspiciously.

"I think you were the one who was in bed with me." He frowned at her. "I won the coin toss earlier in the day. When we came in you got in bed and refused to move. I just laid down next to you."

"You only won because you cheated. That stupid trick Shile taught you."

Weiland smirked. "Whatever. I still won."

"I'll do the coin tossing from now on. You can't be trusted."

"Fine by me. I'll still win. Fate likes me better than you."

She frowned. "You're a jerk."

"Never claimed I wasn't."

She sighed and got off the floor, rubbing her hip. "That's going to be blue."

"So what was the dream about? I haven't seen you that worked up since you were learning your magic."

"Just a bad dream. Nothing important." She picked up the blankets and started sorting them out.

"Don't lie to me, Lylene." He growled it.

She looked startled for a moment and as though she may burst into tears again. Then she turned her back on him, continuing to fiddle with the blankets. He reached out and jerked them roughly out of her hands.

"Weiland, just go back to sleep."

He grabbed her arm and pulled her onto the bed in front of him. She was crying again.

"I'm not going back to sleep. What happened?"

"Nothing, just a dream."

"A dream about what?"

"Why are you pushing me?"

That was a fair question. Ordinarily he wouldn't have bothered to question her, let alone so forcefully. There was something about the way she was acting tonight, though, that worried him. She was nervous and not at all her usual self.

"Why aren't you telling me?"

She was starting to cry harder now. "Because it's none of your business."

"Just tell me."

"Fine! I dreamed I was pregnant."

He tried as hard as he could, but the corners of his mouth started to twitch. "Oh?"

She cried harder. "I knew you wouldn't understand."

"So what if you were pregnant? That's a normal dream for a woman. I mean, I guess it is. It would make sense for it to be. It's nothing to cry about."

"Yes, but it was your baby."

He paused a bit uncomfortably. "Oh."

She continued to cry.

"I didn't realize having a baby with me would cause you so much grief." He said it a little stiffly. He shouldn't care, he knew, but her uncontrollable sobbing at the thought of having a baby with him was probably the least flattering thing she'd ever said to him. And she'd said a lot of unflattering things.

"That's not why I was crying, idiot. I was pregnant and we were traveling and you got yourself killed by a dragon and you left me all alone with our unborn baby."

"Oh."

"That's why I woke up crying."

"So you were crying because I was dead?"

She hiccuped. "Uh huh."

"Huh." Well that was new. And he wasn't quite sure what to think about it. "I didn't know you cared."

"You're a moron."

He sighed. But then she leaned her head against his chest. His heart skipped around a bit. He pulled her into his lap and leaned back against the headboard.

"If anything happened to you I'm not sure what I'd do." She said it so softly he almost couldn't hear her.

He stroked her hair. "Maybe I'll try harder not to die, then. I mean, since it's so important to you."

She sniffled. "I'm tired."

"OK. You can take the bed and I'll get the floor."

She looked up at him, disconcertingly close. "Not yet. Stay like this for awhile, please."

He held his breath, looking into her eyes, and nodded. She settled her head into the crook of his neck and he felt her breath dance across his skin. He stroked her back and her hair and felt her fall asleep. He wrapped his arms more firmly around her, closed his eyes, and dozed off.


End file.
